


Oh twist my arm!

by pandafarts



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, First Kiss, Getting Together, Hair Washing, Kinda?, M/M, Minor Injuries, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Panic Attacks, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-15
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-10-10 22:03:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17434328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pandafarts/pseuds/pandafarts
Summary: One bad fall, and several X-rays later, Yuri Plisetsky's perfectionism send him careening into an anxiety attack. Luckily for him, Otabek and Yakov are there to save the day.





	Oh twist my arm!

**Author's Note:**

> I know Yuuri K is more often portrayed as having anxiety, but I did write Yuri P having a panic attack because I really relate to him. If descriptions of anxiety attacks make you have them, please note that this may be triggering. Otherwise, please enjoy the Otayuri, soft and pure as it is!  
> Also thanks to the fabulous madameseashorse for beta’ing this disaster. Thanks sis!

Yuri had always felt like the worst part about injuring yourself was not the pain itself, or even the resulting need to limit further activity. No, the worst part of an injury was having people see you obtain it. This quirk of his was well rooted. He doesn’t so much remember the pain of skinned knees, as he does the shame of Grandpa trying to catch him. He has always hated people watching him fail, perfectionist that he is.

That being said there was something “special” about hurting yourself at practice while everyone was admiring pictures from the Katsuki-Nikiforov wedding, and then having to tell Yakov that you had landed poorly. It was even a perfectly noticeable fall. He had even managed to twist his arm, which wasn’t a typical thing for him to do. How they all managed to not notice was beyond him.

He didn’t usually tell Yakov about injuries simply because the old man noticed everything typically, but it felt wrong as soon as he landed and it had to be pointed out. The fact that it burned white hot makes him think it’s a badly pulled muscle, but it’s still slightly alarming because of how much it smarts.

Adding to his humiliation was the fact that Otabek was visiting for the time being. He was so cool, that falling in front of him seemed somehow worse.  
It was with a mixture of shame and somehow, relief, that Otabek meets him when he makes his pained way to report to Yakov. Most of his rink-mates were huddled around an enthusiastic Victor, cooing over floral arrangements. Yuri made his way over to break up the party, embarrassed as hell that he had to admit that he had jacked himself up.

He’s not sure if he’s grateful or humiliated when he hears Otabek say, “Yes, that kimono was lovely, but Yuri fell wrong.”  
He’s instantly smothered with attention, which he does not want. After a solid minute of this, cradling his dumb ass arm all the while, he demands they stop. He really just needs to get this checked out, no frills needed.

“Well, come on then, Yuri.” Yakov says, no nonsense as usual, “let’s get that X-rayed.” Yuri goes to follow Coach Yakov, and is surprised when Otabek interrupts.  
“I could always take him.” Yuri looks between the two, feeling like this is a grand idea, but Yakov simply scoffs.  
“What, you are going to make him hold onto the motorbike with this?” He gestures at Yuri’s limp arm.  
“I suppose not, Sir.”  
Yakov looks between the two skaters and his face almost softens.  
“I have boxes in the back seat, but if you can find a spot, you can come.” 

The ride to the ER is uneventful. He feels ashamed because he halted practice for everyone, and he’s basically just ruining Otabek’s vacation.  
He’s never really been forgiving of himself.

It’s also noteworthy that while he holds embarrassment over physical pain that his arm and shoulder really does hurt pretty badly. It’s unnerving in its own right.  
“It’ll be fine, Yura,” Otabek says quietly.  
Yuri opens his mouth to say something along the lines of “I’m not even worried” but stupidly he says instead, “Do you think they’ll let me compete if it’s broken?” to which Otabek shrugs and mercifully doesn’t pass judgment.  
They arrive and Yuri wonders, while Yakov is parking the car, if maybe he should contact Grandpa.  
He gets admitted, and they wait. And wait.

And wait.

Otabek has a few games on his phone that he lets him monopolize, but the longer they wait, the more the unease grows. Somewhere back in his mind, which is far too mature for his age, he wonders how much these X-rays will be once the insurance Grandpa has covers it. He must look nauseated, because Yakov asks him if he’s feeling sick. 

He again opens his mouth to reassure his companions and ends up being honest again instead. Yakov snorts in response.

“Please, Yuratchka. Let the adults concern themselves with that!”

At long last, the door opens, and a nurse calls him back. They ask the same boring questions they always do, and eventually take him back to an X-ray machine. He goes alone because of the radiation.

It’s not fun. He wishes Otabek could have come back with him, or even Yakov.  
Afterwards, they all gather and they do more of an exam of the soft tissues. There is a point where he’s convinced that a certain manipulated movement hurts a lot, but the doctor moves a little further down and it’s even worse.

“So,” says the doctor, “it’s not broken” before going off into a spiel that makes very little sense.  
Yakov and the doctor discuss it for a few minutes. Not broken, but there will be bruising. Bad fall, should ice and then heat, blah blah blah, blah.  
The older men shake hands, Yuri is left to change into his street clothes and out of the paper gown they gave him, and they depart the hospital.  
Yuri feels so very stupid.

He got X-rays and left practice because of some bruising?

“So, that’s good news, right?” says Otabek, who sounds relieved. Feeling awful for worrying him, Yuri blurts out his emotions for a third time.  
“I can’t believe I wasted everyone’s time when nothing’s wrong with it.”  
“Did he say nothing, Yuratchka? Because I believe the doctor said it was bruised badly and you needed to care for it,” Yakov said rather calmly.  
Otabek looked at Yuri, his eyes gentle.  
“You will never be a waste of time. I think you should pop some ibuprofen and ice that as soon as we get back.”  
Yuri looks down, feeling a little chastised.  
“Yeah, ok.”

By the time they get back to Lilia’s Yakov’s phone is blowing up. At first, Yuri assumes it’s because people want to know if Yuri’s dead or dying, but it becomes clear that his coach is needed back. The day, though incredibly long, is not over, and he does have other students.

It is with great deliberation, and great deal of instruction that Yakov departs and leaves Otabek to watch over Yuri.  
Yuri knows it’s not a matter of weakness that he is left with a caregiver, rather just a simple acknowledgement that he is altered, but he is slightly stung nonetheless but only initially at first. Otabek has already located the ice pack and the heat pack and has brought him painkillers and something to drink with it. He asks twice if Yuri’s comfortable, seemingly a combination of the rigid “take this and do that” care giving of Lilia and the “oh no, poor baby” style of Victor and Yuuri.  
It wasn’t a bad combination.

Even so, there was a lot on Yuri’s mind.

He had taken the fall, mostly because there was so much on his mind, and, now confronted with downtime, it threatened to consume him once more.  
The thought of being faced with less, or no rink time frightens him a little.

Lately, all he could think about was feeling stressed.

He had to win. He wasn’t saying that just as someone who was driven to win and who enjoyed doing so. His mother had been a dancer and a model but she was not doing very well, and she wasn’t really in the picture. His dad was… well who even knows.

Grandpa was all he had left. And, while Grandpa received aid, and Yuri received scholarships, it was the money from winning that kept them afloat. Never mind the competition, how good the other competitors were, or the fact that his body kept growing and throwing his jumps off, he has to win to pay things. Things like mortgages, and insurance.

And what had he done today? Gotten X-rays. He had rung up a large bill, and he hadn’t even called his Grandfather about it.  
If he called now and told him about today would he be angry?

He felt his breath catch in his throat. Dully, he registered Otabek in the kitchen, making something for them to eat.  
What would he do about missing practice? By falling he had not only cost them money, he also had made it harder to win, which would harm them further. He was such a mess.

And then besides… well besides winning and losing, and money, and being a mess up…. He really felt like he was screwed because he had feelings for Otabek.  
So did Mila.  
Mila was probably way more Otabek’s type. They were closer in age, and she was a pretty young woman.  
Yuri felt half of the time that Otabek might like him back because they had gotten so close. The other half he was sure, that there was no way a cool older guy like Beka could be gay.  
Being gay (or bisexual) was okay if you were charming like Katsudon, or outrageous like Chris, or sexy like Viktor.  
It was kinda like, it was okay for Otabek to be shorter than other guys but when Yuri was too, it wasn’t cool.  
Flawed as the logic may be, it was his logic. He would bet that even if Otabek were gay or bi, that he would never want someone like Yuri, who rang up huge bills and couldn’t jump without hurting himself.

His bangs fell in front of his eye, and without thinking he used his bad arm to brush it back, immediately realizing three things.  
1\. Raising his arm to his head hurt very, very badly.  
2\. His hair was dirty from practice, and he should really wash it  
3\. It would be really hard to wash his hair without pain.

Otabek picks that moment to emerge from Lilia’s kitchen, with eggs and toast and Yuri, whose thoughts have come to a full head, bursts into tears.

Swearing, Otabek sets the plates down, and Yuri is too upset to even feel ashamed. He’s babbling. He hates when he babbles. He doesn’t even know what he is saying. It’s like someone’s pressing on his airway, and it feels even worse because this hasn’t really ever happened before.  
Otabek, surprisingly, is the one who tells him, blunt as can be,  
“You’re having a panic attack. Can I touch you?”  
“Y…yeah.” Then Otabek’s reaching for him, he’s exceedingly careful with his shoulder, but he gathers him close, and buries his face in his sweaty hair, and Yuri starts telling him everything that’s bothering him. He registers himself talking about Grandpa and money, and winning and losing, hell he’s pretty sure that when Otabek tenses at one point when he’s revealed his secret. 

His breath won’t stop leaving him in little pants, and he briefly feels like he’s going to perish.  
Otabek sits on the coach with him, his arms tight around him, his head in his dirty hair, telling him it’s okay.  
It feels like it lasts forever. But at some point he’s just sitting with Otabek, chest-to-chest, tucked under his chin, and no longer feels like he can’t breathe. It’s disappointing in a way because he has such a well-developed crush on Otabek, and he couldn’t even fully enjoy the creature comfort of being close to him.  
The minutes, however, tick by and he remains tucked in Otabek's arms. Otabek speaks and when he does, he can feel the words rumble in the chest he’s against.  
“So, my plan is this… I’m going to reheat the food. You’re going to call your grandfather. He will not be mad. He’ll be glad you’re okay. You’ll rest until your arm is healed, and you can go on and win and earn money. It’s not a done deal. And you haven’t done anything wrong.”  
Yuri knows at this point that he has told Otabek he likes him, He isn’t really sure what to expect now.

Otabek parts from him and goes to microwave the food. Yuri calls his grandfather, who is more concerned about Yuri and not angry or concerned about money.  
Otabek returns, and the food tastes good even reheated, and its is after they are done eating that Otabek addresses him.  
“So, what about your hair?”  
Oh, so he had babbled on about that, too.  
“I...ummm,” he starts, but Otabek just goes upstairs. He comes back down with towels and a bottle.  
“Oh! No, you don’t have to.”  
“Its not good to strain the arm,” Otabek says matter-of-factly.  
“C’mere,” he adds a little gruffly.  
“Oh okay.” Yuri hops off the coach and Otabek moves the dishes from their meal to the other side. Yuri wishes he could wash his own hair in the shower, but it would hurt too much right now.  
“So, I did this for my sister once, and instead of like leaning backward, we had her lean forward since it’s less strain and we let her use a towel to keep her face and eyes free of soap. Doesn’t prevent all the water though.”  
Yuri went to lean over but Otabek shook his head.  
“Water first. I don’t want to scald you.”  
He runs the tap and Yuri picks a temperature. Satisfied, Otabek has him lean it, arranging the towel to cover his face.  
“Is this too hot?”  
“No it’s fine.”

Otabek wets his hair and head, and Yuri closes his eyes. He isn’t used to physical contact, and this feels rather intimate. Still, he thought, as Otabek started lathering his hair, it was really nice.  
“I didn’t see any conditioner. I’m assuming you don’t use it.”  
He did, but he couldn’t really answer at the moment.  
It would be nice under different circumstances to let Otabek play with his hair more, but being bent over with water pouring on you face wasn’t the most fun.  
When he stands after the final rinse, however, and Otabek ruffles his hair dry, he realizes that his crush isn’t unrequited after all.

“Thanks,” he says, and he truly means it.  
Otabek opens to mouth to say something in response, but he closes his mouth and looks most out of character for about two seconds.  
“Just kiss me already, damn Beka.”  
And so he does.

Tear tracks still on his face, hair dripping onto the carpet, arm smarting, and stomach full, Yuri received his first kiss and thought, wow, what a day.  
Honestly it could have been a lot worse.


End file.
